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Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez

Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez teaches comparative literature and gender studies with an activist bent at Bard College at Simon's Rock in Great Barrington, MA and blogs at Transition Times.

Articles by this author

ViewsSaturday, February 18, 2012 - 10:25amOut of the Mouths of Babes...In her new book, Joining the Resistance, distinguished psychologist Carol Gilligan shows that as girls and boys mature, they lose touch with the instinctive, joyful, totally honest voice they were born with. To some extent, this is necessary. No one would want to live in a chaotic society of adult two-year-olds all shouting and crying and singing at the top of their lungs whenever they felt like it!Read more

ViewsSunday, February 12, 2012 - 12:03pmAn Unlikely Environmental EvangelistI was not raised in any religion, nor do I follow any religious practices now. I don’t believe in God as a benevolent white man in the sky, nor do I believe that one needs to sit in a particular building, listening to a particular preacher, to reach out to the divine.Read more

ViewsSunday, February 5, 2012 - 11:02amIf You Want to Fight Cancer, Turn Those Pink Ribbons GreenI'm going to make a confession. I never could stand those pink ribbons. I've never done a "Walk for the Cure" or bought daffodils for cancer victims or even picked a cancer-cure-themed postage stamp. I'm glad to hear that the Komen Foundation has bowed to pressure and is restoring funding to Planned Parenthood, a worthwhile organization if there ever was one.Read more

ViewsFriday, February 3, 2012 - 8:07amReproductive Rights ReduxAmericans hate to be told what to do–even when it’s in our own best interests. Today’s brouhaha over the Obama Administration’s decision to require employers to provide insurance fully covering birth control is a case in point.Read more

ViewsSaturday, January 28, 2012 - 11:21amA Crucible Moment in EducationThere was some rolling of eyes in my community when President Obama announced he would like to see high school mandatory until age 18. That’s because at Bard College of Simon’s Rock , my alma mater, where I’ve been teaching for the past 17 years, the standard procedure for students is to leave high school at about age 16, generally after 10th grade, and shiftRead more

ViewsSunday, January 22, 2012 - 10:16amShades of an American Kristallnacht?Watching the spectacle of the Republican primaries evokes deep sadness over the unavoidable truth that now, in the wake of Citizens United , it has become totally legal for rich people to run politicians the same way they might run horses or greyhounds. Just like that.Read more

ViewsSunday, January 15, 2012 - 10:11amFollow the Money—Somewhere New!People in the know always advise us to “follow the money.” Thanks to the Occupy movement, it’s become plain to a lot more of us that huge amounts of money are concentrated in a very few, very influential hands. Big business interests control politics at every level, and the name of the game is profit for the top managers and owners, with the bare minimum allowed to “trickle down” through taxes and philanthropy.Read more

ViewsSunday, January 8, 2012 - 1:21pmWhither Environmentalism?In the latest issue of Orion Magazine , environmental activists Derrick Jensen and Paul Kingsnorth both express their frustrations with the current environmental movement.Read more

ViewsSaturday, December 10, 2011 - 11:10amOn Human Rights Day, Calling the Next ‘Greatest Generation’Today, Human Rights Day, I call upon the peoples of the world to understand that if we don’t focus on reducing human impact on the global environment in this new century, all the other more isolated issues will be moot. Issues from the militarization of the police, to the use of rape as a weapon of war, to the stifling of free speech and democracy, are important—but they’re just minor skirmishes. The real battle for human rights is taking place in the realm of energy politics.Read more